Verses to Remember
"My eyes are ever on the Lord, for only he will release my feet from the snare. Turn to me and be gracious to me, for I am lonely and afflicted. The troubles of my heart have multiplied; free me from my anguish. Look upon my affliction and my distress and take away all my sins."
Psalm 25:15-18.
"I am still confident of this: I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait for the lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord."
Psalm 27:13-14.
"The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him, and I am helped."
Psalm 28:7.
"Praise be to the Lord, for he showed his wonderful love to me when I was in a besieged city. In my alarm I said, "I am cut off from your sight!" Yet you heard my cry for mercy when I called to you for help."
Psalm 31:21-22.
"You are my hiding place; you will protect me from trouble and surround me with songs of deliverance."
Psalm 32:7.
"From heaven the Lord looks down and sees all mankind; from his dwelling-place he watches all who live on earth - he who forms the hearts of all, who considers everything they do. No king is saved by the size of his army, no warrior escapes by his great strength. A horse is a vain hope for deliverance; despite all its great strength it cannot save. But the eyes of the Lord are on those who fear him, on those whose hope is in his unfailing love, to deliver them from death and keep them alive in famine. We wait in hope for the Lord; he is our help and our shield. In him our hearts rejoice, for we trust in his holy name. May your unfailing love rest upon us, O Lord, even as we put our hope in you."
Psalm 33:13-22.
All these are psalms, or songs, of David.
To me David is a very interesting study because he does so many things as measured in a worldly fashion. He was a simple shepherd boy, the youngest of eight sons. He was brought to court when he was chosen by the prophet Samuel as the next king of Israel. At court, he garners the favour of King Saul because he can play the harp beautifully to chase away Saul's evil spirits.
Saul starts to feel threatened by him when David takes on Goliath, though, thus reversing the fortunes of Israel to defeat the Philistines. Saul grows jealous of David's victories. He believes that David will depose of him in some terrible fashion. Saul fears David all the more because Saul no longer loves and trusts God. Saul knows that God has anointed David to take over from him. When Saul plots to kill him, David eventually flees the court.
In between these events appears the figure of Jonathan, Saul's son. He becomes very good friends with David, to the point when he shields David against his own father. It made me finally realise why all those people name their sons after Jonathan - because it is a name of a good and loyal man.
David flees the court when Saul tries to kill him, but Jonathan does not believe that his father would kill David. Jonathan meets with David, and promises that he will ask his father, and will surely tell David if Saul planned to kill him. He makes a covenant, a promise, with David.
"So Jonathan made a covenant with the house of David, saying, "May the Lord call David's enemies to account." And Jonathan made David reaffirm his oath out of love for him, because he loved him as he loved himself."
It turns out that Saul does plan to kill David. When accused, Saul asks Jonathan to bring David to him, because Saul must kill David.
"Why should he be put to death? What has he done?" Jonathan asked his father. But Saul hurled his spear at him to kill him. Then Jonathan knew that his father intended to kill David.
Jonathan got up from the table in fierce anger; on that second day of the month he did not eat, because he was grieved at his father's shameful treatment of David."
Then Jonathan returns to tell David to flee.
"After the boy had gone, David got up from the south side of the stone and bowed down before Jonathan three times, with his face to the ground. Then they kissed each other and wept together - but David wept the most.
Jonathan said to David, "Go in peace, for we have sworn friendship with each other in the name of the Lord, saying, "The Lord is witness between you and me, and between your descendants and my descendants for ever." Then David left, and Jonathan went back to the town."
And they never see each other again, for Jonathan dies a cruel death at the hands of Philistines.
So David actually spends a lot of time fleeing Saul. In the meantime he works for enemies of Israel, by guarding their sheep and helping them attack their enemies, though he never does anything against Israel. Some of these actions he does because he fears Saul and wishes to escape however he can, instead of asking God's direction. Although he had trusted God to help him against Goliath before, David too has his moments of weakness.
I suppose these psalms touch me the more because they show that David felt and could feel so lost. He didn't know what he was to do all the time, though he was chosen by God to be the next king of Israel. Several times, he was nearly captured by Saul and escaped only due to God. There were times when he returned home to find his family kidnapped and his land destroyed by fire by the work of his enemies. He had so many real life situations that overwhelmed him, but even where he failed, God did not abandon him. In fact, God had adjusted his plans to work out well for David, sending people to remind him when he was about to do or even after terrible deeds. Also, by not putting him in some very difficult situations he had exposed himself too i.e. Having David's current master direct him to fight against Israel.
Being a Christian does not mean believing God will give you anything you desire. It does mean you having to give up all you desire for something greater than that - God's path for you. God doesn't give a five year plan or explain all the things that will happen to you so that you might be prepared. He says, "Follow me," and you follow. The Christian path is almost certainly destined to be painful and fraught with uncertainty and despair. Yet in the end, God promises something more beautiful and true and meaningful than all the things on earth.
And it's time to trust again, and follow.
*
P.s. I would like to explain the context of this post. This post came about largely because I felt overwhelmed by the exams that faced me. I had no mid-term assignments at all this semester and I took no intensives, so the high majority of my grades for my 20 credits of classes rested upon 3 end-of-sem exams. Often the existentialist angst over whether I could do justice to this task that I had brought upon myself made me feel like I could not do this anymore. At the same time, I wondered again what plans I would have for the holidays after the exams: whether I should apply for more internships now while I could or set aside some time to enjoy myself, or do something else constructive altogether. And of course, I wondered and worried over how this could lead me to a path that I wanted after law school. So that's the context when I was brought these verses that comforted me.
Psalm 25:15-18.
"I am still confident of this: I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait for the lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord."
Psalm 27:13-14.
"The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him, and I am helped."
Psalm 28:7.
"Praise be to the Lord, for he showed his wonderful love to me when I was in a besieged city. In my alarm I said, "I am cut off from your sight!" Yet you heard my cry for mercy when I called to you for help."
Psalm 31:21-22.
"You are my hiding place; you will protect me from trouble and surround me with songs of deliverance."
Psalm 32:7.
"From heaven the Lord looks down and sees all mankind; from his dwelling-place he watches all who live on earth - he who forms the hearts of all, who considers everything they do. No king is saved by the size of his army, no warrior escapes by his great strength. A horse is a vain hope for deliverance; despite all its great strength it cannot save. But the eyes of the Lord are on those who fear him, on those whose hope is in his unfailing love, to deliver them from death and keep them alive in famine. We wait in hope for the Lord; he is our help and our shield. In him our hearts rejoice, for we trust in his holy name. May your unfailing love rest upon us, O Lord, even as we put our hope in you."
Psalm 33:13-22.
All these are psalms, or songs, of David.
To me David is a very interesting study because he does so many things as measured in a worldly fashion. He was a simple shepherd boy, the youngest of eight sons. He was brought to court when he was chosen by the prophet Samuel as the next king of Israel. At court, he garners the favour of King Saul because he can play the harp beautifully to chase away Saul's evil spirits.
Saul starts to feel threatened by him when David takes on Goliath, though, thus reversing the fortunes of Israel to defeat the Philistines. Saul grows jealous of David's victories. He believes that David will depose of him in some terrible fashion. Saul fears David all the more because Saul no longer loves and trusts God. Saul knows that God has anointed David to take over from him. When Saul plots to kill him, David eventually flees the court.
In between these events appears the figure of Jonathan, Saul's son. He becomes very good friends with David, to the point when he shields David against his own father. It made me finally realise why all those people name their sons after Jonathan - because it is a name of a good and loyal man.
David flees the court when Saul tries to kill him, but Jonathan does not believe that his father would kill David. Jonathan meets with David, and promises that he will ask his father, and will surely tell David if Saul planned to kill him. He makes a covenant, a promise, with David.
"So Jonathan made a covenant with the house of David, saying, "May the Lord call David's enemies to account." And Jonathan made David reaffirm his oath out of love for him, because he loved him as he loved himself."
It turns out that Saul does plan to kill David. When accused, Saul asks Jonathan to bring David to him, because Saul must kill David.
"Why should he be put to death? What has he done?" Jonathan asked his father. But Saul hurled his spear at him to kill him. Then Jonathan knew that his father intended to kill David.
Jonathan got up from the table in fierce anger; on that second day of the month he did not eat, because he was grieved at his father's shameful treatment of David."
Then Jonathan returns to tell David to flee.
"After the boy had gone, David got up from the south side of the stone and bowed down before Jonathan three times, with his face to the ground. Then they kissed each other and wept together - but David wept the most.
Jonathan said to David, "Go in peace, for we have sworn friendship with each other in the name of the Lord, saying, "The Lord is witness between you and me, and between your descendants and my descendants for ever." Then David left, and Jonathan went back to the town."
And they never see each other again, for Jonathan dies a cruel death at the hands of Philistines.
So David actually spends a lot of time fleeing Saul. In the meantime he works for enemies of Israel, by guarding their sheep and helping them attack their enemies, though he never does anything against Israel. Some of these actions he does because he fears Saul and wishes to escape however he can, instead of asking God's direction. Although he had trusted God to help him against Goliath before, David too has his moments of weakness.
I suppose these psalms touch me the more because they show that David felt and could feel so lost. He didn't know what he was to do all the time, though he was chosen by God to be the next king of Israel. Several times, he was nearly captured by Saul and escaped only due to God. There were times when he returned home to find his family kidnapped and his land destroyed by fire by the work of his enemies. He had so many real life situations that overwhelmed him, but even where he failed, God did not abandon him. In fact, God had adjusted his plans to work out well for David, sending people to remind him when he was about to do or even after terrible deeds. Also, by not putting him in some very difficult situations he had exposed himself too i.e. Having David's current master direct him to fight against Israel.
Being a Christian does not mean believing God will give you anything you desire. It does mean you having to give up all you desire for something greater than that - God's path for you. God doesn't give a five year plan or explain all the things that will happen to you so that you might be prepared. He says, "Follow me," and you follow. The Christian path is almost certainly destined to be painful and fraught with uncertainty and despair. Yet in the end, God promises something more beautiful and true and meaningful than all the things on earth.
And it's time to trust again, and follow.
*
P.s. I would like to explain the context of this post. This post came about largely because I felt overwhelmed by the exams that faced me. I had no mid-term assignments at all this semester and I took no intensives, so the high majority of my grades for my 20 credits of classes rested upon 3 end-of-sem exams. Often the existentialist angst over whether I could do justice to this task that I had brought upon myself made me feel like I could not do this anymore. At the same time, I wondered again what plans I would have for the holidays after the exams: whether I should apply for more internships now while I could or set aside some time to enjoy myself, or do something else constructive altogether. And of course, I wondered and worried over how this could lead me to a path that I wanted after law school. So that's the context when I was brought these verses that comforted me.
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